Mood Board Making: A Gold, Tan, Teal, & Yellow Living Room

We had a grand old time whipping up this nature-inspired mood board for anyone who’s looking to add some kick to their living or family room. We sadly can’t find the time to create custom mood boards anymore (it took a good 6+ hours to make one client commissioned board since we’d have to familiarize ourselves with the space, note the items that they want to keep/lose, brainstorm a new floor plan, etc). And because we don’t want to shortchange clients by tossing sub-par mood boards together (or watch mood boards disappear permanently from our site) we’ve come up with what we like to believe is a nice compromise…

We’ll be whipping up general mood boards that anyone can adapt for their own home and sharing them on the regular! Happily, we can whip up mood boards a lot faster when we get free rein to build a room entirely from our imagination instead of working with existing parameters & furnishings. In fact, they can now be completed between Clara feedings (which is totally part of our criteria when it comes to evaluating what we can and can’t do these days). So without further ado, our nature-inspired mood board full of punchy hues, branchy textures, and even a few nocturnal creatures. Man it feels good to be back.

1. We love the handsome yet playful combination of dark chocolates, deep teals, sandy wheats, cheerful yellows, and crisp splashes of white. And speaking of white, when it comes to paint for this space, we’d love to see glossy white trim along with clean white walls (Benjamin Moore’s Decorators White works for both surfaces) so the punchy art and accessories really pop. Of course a soft cream, tan, or even a subtle teal or yellow would work too if you’re not the white wall type.

3. This glittering $69 chandelier introduces ambiance and softness, plus we love how the round disks (and the round shape of the fixture) will echo the curves in the round coffee table that will sit beneath it.

4. This amazingly affordable clean-lined sofa (on sale for $699) is perfect for the masculine meets feminine vibe that we have going on in the room.

5. These punchy yellow accessories will add a splash of sunny hue to any media stand, console table, or fireplace mantel.

6. This abstract yellow and amber toned art (for just $24.99!) has us so smitten that we wouldn’t object to ordering two identical prints and hanging them in thin wood frames with large white mats above the sofa.

7. & 8. & 9. The juxtaposition of the patterned twiggy rug (just $299 for an 8 x 10!) and these sleek & modern teal side tables gets us all hot and bothered. We’d love to see one on each side of the sofa with playful matching owl lamps on them (just $39.99). It’s such a fun eclectic pairing.

10. This round light wood coffee table will subtly blend in with the area rug and ground the entire sitting area. And the wood grain is such a playful pairing with the branchy rug that will rest beneath it.

11. This $159 slipper chair in faux alligator leather is not only outrageously easy to care for (so wipeable and beverage/pet/kid friendly!) but the price is pretty nice too. We imagine two of them flanking a fireplace with the sofa facing them for a nice luxe and balanced effect, but other floor plans would work too – slipper chairs are amazingly flexible.

So that’s our twiggy, owl-riddled, nature-inspired mood board for anyone who’d like to adapt it in their space. Got any favorite items among the roundup? Or any additional pieces that you’d love to suggest for those who may bring this dream room to life? Anyone out there who may be implementing a few ideas from this mood board? We’d love to see your after photos! Happy decorating…

What a great idea! I commend you for putting your family first but am totally excited for this new mood board thang. I think my fave here is the overall color scheme…something we haven’t really seen from you just because you’re usually working with clients’ desires. That chandy is to die for. Love it.

Ahh, this is great since I’m trying to decorate with teal in my living room/office. My inspiration has been Van Gogh’s “Almond Blossoms” painting, so that’s been kind of a challenge. Been looking for months for an area rug with teal in it for under $30, much like the recent rug hunt you were on. Thanks for the ideas!

I’m loving the mixture of these colors! I’m glad you guys still have the time to whip up a couple of these posts, since their a lot of fun.

Random question (just cuz I’m curious), how far in advance do you write and plan out many of your posts? Just asking because it seems like you put a lot of time and effort into them and I’m curious how much planning goes into the weeks blogging schedule.

We usually plan our posts out and write them at least a week or two in advance, but sometimes we write things at the verrry last minute (and even up to three weeks in advance, like holiday stuff, etc). Hope it helps!

I love the pops of teal and the geometric pillows! Glad you could come up with a mood board compromise that works for you- I’m hoping we’ll still see afters of ones you did awhile ago or maybe even afters based on your generic boards!

I think it is AWESOME that you found a compromise! I love your mood boards and look forward to seeing them again.

Thanks for the tip of the writing of posts – I just started a website myself and wanted to know the best way to go about writing posts, getting them up timely, etc. I like how you pretty much post at the same times every day – it keeps people coming back! I am going to have to start stockpiling posts on the weekends for my site and then posting them at specific times.

Love love love the chandelier. I’ve been dying over the West Elm version of this (that I originally found due to this site!) but hadn’t pulled the trigger b/c of the price tag. I can almost guarantee I’ll be at World Market within the next week or two picking up this version!!

We’ve actually tackled mood boards for an adult family with playroom capabilities quite a few times. Just check out our mood board archives for lots of ideas (and stay tuned for more, since we’re sure we’ll tackle that concept again)!

I love this mood board! Personally I won’t miss the other mood boards, and I think that seeing general mood boards might even be a little more inspiring to me. There are some really great ideas and budget finds here. I might have to try to snag that chandelier and some of those cool affordable chairs! And once again I love the color palette you’re working with.

Would you say that the Dolce slipper chairs are fairly comfortable? I remember reading that they’re pretty firm.

We have the linen-look ones and they’re super comfy. They’re firm at first, but if you sit in them about 20 minutes a day for a week they’re broken in and lovely after that (we’ve had ours over three years and still adore them). Hope it helps!

I guess I’m just surprised to see that you have taken out the shop and the custom mood boards since this is a full time job for both of you now. I know you have a baby but it seems like those were two big money makers. I’m definitely not complaining though about seeing a mood board we can adapt for our own space!

Yay for the comeback of mood boards! I agree that this is a great compromise. I think this also allows people to pull what they like from the mood boards to work with what they already may own to create a look that is truely unique.

Sadly that major news fell through. Let’s just say that we were asked to be guests on a new national decorating show (we were actually supposed to be taping today) but since the show is currently in the process of being launched it was too hard to coordinate so we’re “on hold.” Tears were shed but it’ll happen someday if it’s meant to be!

LOVE that rug and headed over to Overstock to order it asap. I’ve been looking for an 8×10 for our living room for over a year. But . . . the one review it had gave it only one star! I ordered our dining room rug from Overstock a year ago and it’s been perfect, but that one star was enough to hesitate. There’s a 6×10 rug at our IKEA for only $199 that seems pretty nice. It’s so hard to decide!

That’s funny because when we made the mood board it had three four-star reviews! I wonder if they reset it once a week or something (we made this board last Wednesday). Maybe check out their return policy and see what you have to lose? It might work for you but it’s nice to know there’s flexibility if you receive the rug and don’t love it!

Welcome back mmod boards – and we’re glad to have you! I really enjoyed the one you did during your anniversary week and think that today’s is fab as well. Like Rachel, I agree that the general mood board is very inspiring – people can take bits and pieces and customize it for themselves and their unique decorating situation. I’ve been thinking about the chandelier you featured for my bedroom for a few weeks, and the fact that it was on your website today may be the kick I need to take the plunge! Thanks for all you do – your hard work is greatly appreciated:)

I’ll miss the mood boards too but I like the new idea as well. The couches kind of remind me of the new ones in the Oval Office makeover which also has pops of blue/teal. What did you guys think of what they did?

I’m also quite sad that you don’t offer custom mood boards, and am as surprised as Courtney that you have to pare down although you are two full-time bloggers now. Well, you just have to do what’s best for you and you will see how the majority of your readers react.

As for the new “general” mood boards, of course it allows you to decide more freely what to use, but I think one advantage of the “real” mood boards was that you inspired a lot of readers by showing how you can work with existing pieces and a real floor plan. Maybe you can incorporate something like this into some of your mood boards (e.g. furniture for a bay window, a cozy sitting area in a walk-through room etc.), or you could select a certain piece of furniture you own and show how to make it look totally different with other accessoires (just like your “what if clara was a boy”-nursery post).
One of the reasons I like your blog so much is that you can work with what you have and have a great talent to make things look great and easy-to-use without buying completely new things (e.g. removing a couple of closet doors for easier access – most of us would have lived with these for years!)

We definitely hope to include ideas for room arrangement and layout (we actually mentioned two ways to arrange this room in our breakdown when we talked about the slipper chairs). We also feature Reader Redesigns and House Crashing posts which are full of images of real rooms (along with our own home makeovers) so those might help inspire room layouts and furniture floor planning ideas! Oh and we’re hoping to get some after pics from readers who use these mood boards as inspiration, so you’ll get to see how they arrange their rooms as well. And when it comes to working with what you have, you know we’re all about that! We actually thought these general mood boards would help in that regard because now if anyone has a similar sofa, slipper chair, or color scheme they can work some ideas from this mood board into their space for a whole new look using items they already own (and even get ideas as to how to adapt what they have with paint/fabric/etc to make it fit in). Hope it helps!

My husband and I are about to move into a teeeeeeensy tiny apartment (he’s in grad school and we’re trying to move closer to campus so he can walk to classes; and we’re trying to save money!!) and I’m racking my brain trying to think of all of the organizational tips y’all have thrown out over the years!! It’s gonna be a challenge but I’m excited, too! :)

That is quite a challenge! It couldn’t really include things like sofas or chairs unless they were from Craigslist or something (which is odd to link to in a post because once they’re sold it’ll be a dead link) because that would be $500 right there. But if anyone has a sofa and chairs that they already want to work with, they could easily snag the art, chandelier, pillows, lamps, and the yellow vessels in this very mood board for an affordable overhaul of their entire space! They could even get discount fabric and sew similar pillows and get cheap vessels from a thrift store or garage sale and spray paint them yellow to save even more moolah. The possibilities are endless!

We made over a sunroom with $200 from Ikea in just a few hours a while back so that post might interest you. Here’s the link!

I love this mood board – not necessarily because I’d buy all of the items from it – but because it’s nice and neutral. The yellow and blue can be replaced, easily and inexpensively, with other colors as seasons change and special decor might make an appearance for a month or so.

Our house is similar in tones – white, cream, oat, light & dark browns and woods, and we add in pops of color – deeper jewel tones for the fall/winter, and breezy blues and yellows.

Be still my heart! I have actually been crushing on the teal side table from CB2 for awhile as well as the WE coffee table I am so excited to see that my taste is YHL worthy! :) Love seeing the mood boards back and love that they can work for everyone! You are doing a great job of balancing your love for blogging with your love of your new little family! And Clara just keeps getting cuter! :)

Yippee to a new mood board. Great compromise and I must say I enjoy the general boards just as much (maybe even more) than the custom ones. LOVING the round coffee table in this one. Thanks for the inspiration today:)

I love the idea of generic mood boards. That’s a great compromise, and I, for one, appreciate it! I still can’t get behind those chandeliers though. Not sure why but they just don’t do it for me. Different strokes.

Awwww, so sad to hear that you won’t be doing custom mood boards any more. That was definitely my favorite part of the blog. Generic boards are nice too but they just aren’t the same. But I understand if you all are too busy. I still love the blog, and I will keep my fingers crossed that you bring them back at some point. :D

Happy to see the Mood Boards back and these are “teaching moments,” the best kind. Something has to give when our children come on board, a whole lotta somethings but that kind of change is a blessing, all-around. Liking that geometric pillow and punchy accessories from ZGallerie.

Suggestion: you might consider doing a post on just console tables, the ones you particularly like, and then help us style those with accessories you choose — ones behind a sofa and against the wall. Taking a design dilemna we all face would help us see ways to solve those. Just an idea

Thanks for the suggestion! We love the idea of profiling a bunch of similar items that we love (like coffee tables or console tables) and then sharing a few ways to arrange them. We’ll definitely add it to our (admittedly long) to-do list! Stay tuned…

Wow, I’ve had so much fun going through each of these items. I’m redecorating my living room with similar colors. Although instead of sandy wheat, I have a warm gray/stone couch, and gray (BM Abalone) walls. I have teal touches and white trim, but your house has inspired me to add white frames and a bit of punchy yellow too. From my perspective, the general mood board isn’t a comprimise… it’s better!
p.s. Besides my email and FB, this is the only other online thing I check daily! Keep up the good work!

While I’m sad you don’t offer cusom mood boards
(I missed my chance!) – I totally understand and am raelly happy you’ll be posting these generic ones. This is a great one! Thanks for sharing the inspiration!

I have had those owl lamps in my target online “shopping cart” for weeks now. I’ve made my decision. I just purchased them! Y’all really inspired me to go for it. At first I was nervous they might be kind of weird, but knowing y’all approve makes me smile. Thanks for the inspiration.